May 15, 2008 6:16 pm US/Central

Witnesses Say Van Driver In Bus Crash Not Alone


Four students were killed and 14 others were injured in a school bus crash in Cottonwood, Minn. on Feb. 19, 2008. (File)
CBS


Olga Marina Franco del Cid has said that her boyfriend was driving the van that crashed into the school bus. (File)

MARSHALL, Minn. (WCCO) ―
The defense of a woman charged in a fatal school bus crash in southwestern Minnesota got a boost Thursday when a federal immigration agent testified that witnesses said she was not alone at the time.

Also, a judge handed down a ruling in Olga Marina Franco del Cid's favor, saying her rights were violated when authorities interviewed her two days after the crash, the Independent of Marshall reported. The ruling makes the Feb. 21 statement inadmissible in court.

Franco has said that her boyfriend was driving the van that crashed into the school bus. Her attorney claims the impact thrust her into the driver's seat, from which she was extracted by rescue workers.

However, until Thursday no one outside her defense team and family had gone on the record saying that there was anyone else in the vehicle.

That changed when Immigration and Customs Enforcement special agent Jeremy Christenson was cross-examined during a hearing on several defense motions, including a change of venue.

Christenson testified that since the Feb. 19 crash, witnesses have said Franco's boyfriend was with her in the van as it hit a bus carrying students from Lakeview School in Cottonwood.

Franco is charged with four counts of criminal vehicular homicide after the crash killed four children.

Her boyfriend, Francisco Sangabriel-Mendoza, has not been found. Franco has said he ran off because he didn't want to be deported to Mexico.

"The police didn't believe her when she said the boyfriend was with her, but now someone has come forward and said that's the case. That's significant," Franco's attorney, Manuel Guerrero, told The Associated Press.

ICE spokesman Tim Counts said he couldn't elaborate on Thursday's hearing and said the agency does not typically comment on pending cases.

Also Thursday, Lyon County District Judge David Peterson ruled that Franco told investigators from ICE and the Minnesota State Patrol on Feb. 21, while in jail, that she was not prepared to talk to them and that a lawyer was coming. She made those comments after her Miranda rights were read, according to court documents.

In his order, Peterson said Franco clearly exercised her right to seek a lawyer before answering the investigators' questions. It was during that conversation with investigators that Franco first said her boyfriend was driving the van, Guerrero said.

Lyon County Attorney Rick Maes told the Independent that Peterson's ruling on the Feb. 21 interview doesn't change much. "It doesn't affect the prosecution of the case," said Maes, who did not immediately return a message left Thursday by The Associated Press.

Maes also told the Independent that Guerrero could still choose to use information from the interview in court, in which case prosecutors could respond to it.

Guerrero also requested in court that depositions be taken from three witnesses so their testimony could be preserved for Franco's trial and requested that the trial be moved to another city. He didn't expect decisions on those issues until later.

After the hearing, Guerrero said he has talked with a witness who picked up Sangabriel-Mendoza and drove him away from the crash scene. The witness, who didn't see the crash, knew Sangabriel-Mendoza by his alias and worked with him. That witness also said Sangabriel-Mendoza was injured and complained of back pain, Guerrero said.

The two other witnesses said they saw a man running from the scene, Guerrero said.

"They came upon the accident later," he said.

None of the witnesses have said someone besides Franco was driving the van, Guerrero said.

Maes has said before that no evidence suggests anyone but Franco was driving the van, which investigators said ran a stop sign at the intersection of Highway 23 and County Road 24.

Franco and Sangabriel-Mendoza are both charged in federal court with using someone else's identification documents to get jobs. Federal authorities have said Franco is from Guatemala and Sangabriel-Mendoza is from Mexico and that both are in the U.S. illegally.

http://wcco.com/crime/cottonwood.bus.cr ... 24894.html